The Impact of membership in the Carpet Cooperatives, on Socioeconomic dimensions of the Members: A case study of Qom Province, Iran

Introduction Development approaches, such as rural development, from the mid1920s, were emerged for decreasing the ongoing socio-economical gap among social groups in society and improving their situation methods such as production-oriented strategy, social mobilization and total rural development attracted the attention of social and economic thinkers. Social mobilization is one of the developing approaches in which improvement of institutions and social problems is taken into consideration in order to empower people by means of encouraging partnership and engagement. The methodological approach was survey research through descriptive data, correlational and comparative analysis. There has been always a controversy on the paradoxical nature of cooperative work from one hand, and the quality of products on the other. The fact that whether all cooperative activities affect the quality is the concern of this research regarding the targeted carpet cooperatives. The socio-economical, political and cultural norms and values affect how people work together to create a common product. Moreover, the mental structures count, regarding the dominance or prevalence of one the three goal structures consisting of individualistic, cooperative and competitive goal structures. and human goal structures.
Materials and Methods The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of rural carpet cooperatives on some socio-economic variables. The sample included 250 individuals (95 percent of the whole population) comprising of 200 who were cooperative members and 50 among non-members. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and T Test, Crosstabs and Pearson correlation coefficient.The data collection tool was questionnaire which its validity was confirmed by experts and its reliability was estimated by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient 0.79.
Results and Discussion The descriptive results showed that using the t-test and correlation was concluded at the level of 0.05 percent. The quantity of carpet produced by members of cooperative with an average 2.30 square meters was more than those of non- members with an average of 1.77 square meters. Although, the amount of production, among cooperative institutions, was more in quantity, the quality of products decreased. This is due to application of simpler weaving designs, and a lack of sufficient practical training and also, less monitoring processes in comparison with the private weavers. The production cost in the carpet cooperatives was less than none- members. One the main reasons are the fact of collective ownership of production facilities and instruments. Because of having access, also to better and cheaper materials by cooperative members the production cost decreases in the cooperatives. Around 42 percent of marketing and sales is done by the cooperatives, while for non-members less 5 percent is done by the cooperatives. It can have played a significant role in marketing and sales of the members’ woven carpets. The materials also, that were provided a better quality in comparison. This demonstrates the cooperative roles in providing quality materials. On the other hand, based on the members’ viewpoints, the cooperatives played a successful role in providing credit loans for their members. Although, most of the members received loans, due to no-cash nature of most of the loans, the wealthier members were benefited more. This does not much the philosophy of cooperatives which is based on equity and justice .Based on the members’ view point and using correlation analysis at the level of 0.05 percent, cooperatives had effective role in omitting the unnecessary marketing dealers. There was not a significant difference between the members’ attitudes towards cooperative (as a socio-economical institution), and their participation in the cooperatives such as in decision making, and provision of capital. The reason for this was a lack knowledge of cooperatives by the members. At the same time, despite official task and high organizational capacity, the cooperatives had performed weakly in delivering vocational training programs.
Conclusions In general members also, were monitored with longer period than non-members and the members were not satisfied by the cooperatives performance. Finally, it is concluded that despite increase in the quantity of the cooperatives’ products, the quality has decreased. This is with due respect to application of simpler and the less complicated designs and lack of sufficient essential trainings and also lower evaluation and monitoring processes in comparison with the private sector. Regarding the importance of vocational and practical trainings in sustainable development process, these cooperatives have demonstrated a weak performance. It is recommended that related educational and extension departments concentrate on the trainings of the carpet cooperative workers to increase their income and the quality of their products.